Who is Dr. Karen Lawson?

Dr. Karen Lawson is an international consultant, speaker, and author. As founder and president of Lawson Consulting Group, Inc., she has built a successful consulting firm specializing in organization and management development as well as executive coaching. She has extensive consulting and seminar experience in the areas of team development, communication, leadership, and quality service across a wide range of industries. Clients include a variety of prominent organizations from financial services, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, manufacturing, health care, government, and education. In her consulting work with Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses, she uses her experience and knowledge of human interaction to help leaders at all levels make a difference in their organizations.

Karen is the author of 10 books: The Art of Influencing; Improving On-the-Job Training and Coaching; Improving Performance Through Coaching; The Trainer’s Handbook; Train-the-Trainer Facilitator’s Guide; Involving Your Audience – Making It Active; Skill Builders: 50 Communication Activities; New Employee Orientation Training; Real-World Career Tactics for Women; 101 Ways to Make Training Active (co-author). She has also written chapters for 15 different professional anthologies in addition to numerous articles in professional journals. In addition, she has created several assessment instruments and developed new, cutting-edge learning tools and delivery methods, including a 12-session professional development tape series for managers; web-based training programs; and teletraining courses.

She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Adult and Organization Development from Temple University; a Master of Arts in English from the University of Akron; and a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Union College. She is also a graduate of the National School of Banking in Fairfield, CT. She is one of only 400 people worldwide to have earned the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the 4,000-member National Speakers Association. She has received numerous awards for her outstanding contribution to the training and speaking professions and was also named one of Pennsylvania’s 2005 "Best 50 Women in Business."

She has been actively involved in professional organizations such as the National Speakers Association and the American Society for Training and Development, holding leadership positions at both the local and national levels. She is also an active volunteer with the Arts and Business Council of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Karen has served on the adjunct faculty for the University of Delaware, Saint Joseph’s University, Villanova University, Peirce College, Bucks County Community College, and Rochester Institute of Technology at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. She also teaches at The School of Management Development for America’s Community Bankers in their management development programs. She has presented at several professional conferences in the United States and Europe.